


Armageddon

by Strife667



Category: Tales of Berseria
Genre: Brutality, Destruction, Drama, During Canon, Fantasy, Fear, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26891728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strife667/pseuds/Strife667
Summary: There will be death. There will be fire. And all that’s left... is Armageddon.
Kudos: 5





	1. A Terrible Nightmare

_Young Laphicet fluttered his eyes open, and found himself in a beautiful night in Westgand. Within the rural woods, the sounds of nocturnal wildlife could heard, from the frogs singing their hearts out, to the crickets chirping away. The moon shined brightly upon the woods, lighting the way for all life that walk through the night._

_The young malak just looked in amazement at all the nighttime fauna. It was different than the day time creatures he was used to, but it was nonetheless fascinating. The fireflies in particular astounded him, with all the little lights glistening like the very stars in the sky._

_"Wow!" he said in astonishment. It indeed seemed like a peaceful night._

_It was not..._

_The next thing Phi knew, he was in a small village, which was engulfed by a roaring fire. Buildings had burned down until they were nothing but soot, embers scattered everywhere, and a few village folk were fleeing the ever growing fire._

_Phi seemed frightened by the horrible sight. To say that panic ensued would be a gross understatement, as everyone ran like lunatics, running every which direction, not fully knowing where to go even if they left the village._

_But the worst was yet to come. Within the fires, Phi could see a dark silhouette of a tall, humanoid figure. This figure then started to glow blood red eyes, accompanied by low growling that was somewhat akin to that of a dragon, yet more otherworldly. The ominous presence then pulled out what appeared to be a sword._

_Not wanting to wait around to find out what happened next, Phi ran for dear life . Yet, before he could get very far, something caught his attention. Something that made him completely freeze in place. It was Velvet, laying on the ground, battered and beaten. Worse yet, he saw the monstrous figure lurching toward her, its feet scorching the ground with every step._

_"Velvet!" Phi cried out._

_Without thinking, Phi rushed over to the battle ravaged therion. On impulse, he nudged her several times, just to see if she's still alive. Merely one eye opened, Velvet struggled to lift her arm and reach out to him._

_"Phi..." she weakly said. "Run..." and just like that, she passed out._

_There was no time to react. Before Phi knew it, the monstrous figure loomed over them. He still couldn't get a good look, as it's body was covered in shadow. What was certain, however, was that it was a tall and rather bulky creature, with what appeared to be a v-shaped head. Its haunting red eyes were even more ominous up close._

_The creature then pulled out its giant, hellish sword. It was black with a red blade, and what appeared a to be a mouth with orange teeth. The sword then opened its mouth, inside of which was what appeared to be a red light._

_"No!" Cried Laphicet, standing between the creature and Velvet. "I won't let you hurt her!"_

_Alas, Phi's chivalry did no good, for the beast swatted him aside. He then looked on in horror as the sword prepared to devour Velvet..._

* * *

"Ahh!" Laphicet yelped, waking up with a shock.

Phi panted rather heavily. He took a quick look around, just to see if everything was on fire. To his relief, he was in his cabin, which meant he was still on the Van Eltia. It was merely a nightmare... a pretty vivid one at that.

Unable to sleep, the young malak decided to go outside on deck for a little fresh air. As it just so happened, the skies were clear, and the stars filled the skies. There was just something so calming and magical about seeing these little specks of light into the night sky, each one a little different from the other.

Ordinarily, Phi would be starting at these stars for hours on end, wondering how big the world truly was when staring out. However, he was still shaken after that horrible dream to even notice the beautiful sight before him. He hasn’t had any dream like this before, where there was so much fire and death. It all felt a little too real.

"Can't sleep?" A mature female voice asked, catching Phi's attention right away.

It was none other than the world proclaimed Lord of Calamity herself, Velvet Crowe.

"Velvet? What are you doing up so late?" Inquired Phi

"Just not tired, I guess." Velvet said. "I thought I'd watch the stars for a bit, that always did the trick back in Aball. what's your excuse?"

Phi then looked down, which caused a bit of concerned in Velvet's eyes.

"What's wrong, Phi?"

"I had a terrible dream." Phi replied somberly. "A small village in Westgand was destroyed by a daemon."

"What kind of daemon?" Velvet asked

"That's just it, I'm not sure." Phi said. "It was mostly covered in shadow, so I couldn't see it too well." Phi's hands then began to quiver a bit, and his voice began breaking a bit too. "But its eyes... they were red and soulless. It caused fire everywhere, and it carried a sword that... ate people."

"Ate people?" Velvet's curiosity was piqued. She wasn't sure what Phi was going to say, though it certainly wasn't that.

"Yeah... It had teeth and everything. And inside it's mouth was a red light and..." Phi was once again shaken by the horrible nightmare. "It ate someone."

"Who?" Velvet asked.

"... You" Phi said, small tears falling from his eyes

Velvet quickly took note of these tears. She could tell he was very disturbed by this dream.

"Phi..."

"I don't want anything to happen to you, Velvet!" Phi suddenly snapped, catching Velvet by surprise. "Anything at all! It's like I said, a world without is is something I couldn't bear... I don't know what I'd do without you."

Phi began sobbing lightly. Velvet would like nothing more than to tell him it was just a dream, that it meant nothing. however, considering what they've been through during their journey, being killed by a powerful daemon wouldn't be too far of a stretch.

The older woman then knelt down to the young malak's level.

"By now you should understand, Phi." Velvet said firmly yet softly. "On the path we tread now, there's always going to be danger. Which means, there's always a chance that at least one of us could wont make it. Could be me... could even be you."

That was about the answer Phi expected from Velvet, she never was one to sugar coat things, not even to a kid. Ne wouldn’t have expected any less from the Lord of Calamity.

She proceeded to wipe away Phi's tears, trying to reach some level of assurance.

"I'll promise this much, though." She then placed her human hand on his shoulder. "No matter who, or what, comes our way, I won't make it easy for them to kill me. I'll fight harder to stay alive" she then placed her human hand on Phi's shoulder. "And most importantly, to keep you alive."

"Harder than you ever had before?" Phi inquired, his voice still wavering a bit.

"Of course." Velvet assured with a smile. "And if I can't do it alone, I know the others will have my back, especially you."

That at least put a light smile on Phi's face. He supposed Velvet was right. After all, he was able to hold his own against Innominat for a little while, not to mention he there for Velvet when she needed him most, back in her moment of despair.

"Hey, Velvet?"

"Hmm?" She responded.

"Is it alright if I sleep in your room tonight? I don't feel like being alone."

Velvet couldn't help but smile at that. Yet another thing her brother, Laphi, would do, especially when he got scared. For once, an old memory didn't make her wince.

"Sure." She said. "You head on in, I'll see if I can find an extra matress. Okay?"

"Okay." Phi said with a smile.

With that, Phi head toward Velvet's cabin. Velvet, however,couldn't help but wonder about his dream. A daemon with a flesh eating sword? That sounded a bit outlandish, even by her standards. Then again, she never would have believed her own brother would be reincarnated as Innominat, much less be her enemy.

Was this merely a dream Laphicet had? Or was this a horrible premonition? Perhaps this was worth looking into,first thing in the morning.


	2. A Foreboding Legend

Morning came a little faster than Velvet would've liked. Not only did she not get much sleep last night, which was already pretty commonplace, but she also needed to talk to everyone about Phi's dream, and see if any of them would knew if there was such things as a daemon who carried a flesh eating sword.

To that end, she didn't want Phi to be part of the meeting; the last thing she wanted was to worry Phi that this horrid dream might be reality, at least until she knew more. Luckily, Phi was still asleep, so Velvet decided to let him sleep in.

Once Velvet gathered her merry band of misfits in the captain's quarters, she told them of the horrid dream that Phi had.

"A flesh eating sword?" Rokurou asked, fiddling with one of his blades. "Now there's a blade I'd like to see."

"Is this what was so important that you had to, quite literally in this case, drag me out of bed?" Magilou said, rather irritably, clad in a katz onesie. "Some nightmare a little boy had?"

"Yes." Velvet firmly said. "Look, I know how trivial this sounds. But, every dream that I've had has always had a sizable slice of reality in it. If there's even a fool's chance this is a reality, then I need to know."

"As hard as it is to believe, I'm kind of with Magilou on this one, Velvet." Eleanor concurred. "If there was such a thing, I most certainly would've heard about it during my time in the Abby. After all, any daemon that burned down villages surely couldn't go unnoticed."

"Thank you!" Magilou exclaimed, flailing her arms in the air. "Eizen, do you concur that this is all just a big pile of crap?"

Intriguingly enough, Eizen seemed deep in thought, stroking his chin. Was he even listening?

"Um, you home Eizen?" Rokurou asked, waving his hand in front of the cursed pirate.

"Yeah, I heard every word."

That matter of fact tone of his had everyone's attention. What did he know?

"Eizen, would you know anything about this?" Velvet asked. "After all, you've been around the block for a while."

"It's an old legend. If I remember right, it tells of a powerful daemon of pure, unspeakable evil, with a thirst for destruction to match. So much so, that it was able to set whole towns ablaze within minutes, seizing any who ran in panic along the way. Said to be a living juggernaut, nothing was able to stop this monster from destroying all in its path. Many have tried, not one made it out alive.”

"And let me guess, it wielded of sword with a taste for human flesh." Velvet said, crossing her arms.

"If you believe such things." Eizen flipped his coins before continuing, getting tails as usual. "According to legend, the sword itself is as black as the inside of a coffin, with vibrant reddish orange teeth, and a single edge as sharp as a guillotine. Supposedly, once the sword opened it's ghastly maw, the last thing victims ever saw was a portal that led straight to Hell as it swallowed them whole."

As expected, the content of this tale was a lot to take in. Rokurou and Magilou seemed intrigued more than anything else. They've heard many tales in their lifetime, though this was by far the strangest. Velvet, however, seemed rather trepidatious; the details seemed to match what little details Laphicet gave her almost perfectly. Eleanor looked paler than a ghost after hearing this horrific tale, the very thought of such a horrible fate practically tied her stomach in a knot.

"Gotta say Eizen, that's a lot of crazy stuff you just threw at us." Rokurou said, still fiddling with his blade.

"But that's all just legend, right?" Eleanor asked, still unnerved.

"Last I checked." Eizen replied. "I can't say I've ever seen, nor heard anything that ever confirmed it was real. Back in the day, that tale was told to instill fear in trespassers or raiders, scaring them from going to villages."

"Well that's a shame." Rokurou sighed. "I would've really liked to go toe to toe with this Daemon."

"Really Rokurou?!" Eleanor exclaimed, shocked. "Why would you ever want to go up against such a monster?!"

"What can I say? If there's a powerful sword out there, I gotta test my blades against it."

"One last question, Eizen." Said Velvet. "This Daemon. Did it have a name?"

"It went by many, depending on who you asked." Eizen once again flipped his coin, again getting tails. "Some called it 'the Chaos Daemon, which is fairly self explanatory. Hell, the normin even went as far as calling it “malevolence incarnate”. However, if there was one name that stood out from others, it was... Armageddon."

Eleanor couldn't help but shutter at that name; anyone with any sense would know what that name implied. The name certainly fit, given what they heard in this tale.

Velvet was now deep in thought. Having learned that there were no confirmed sightings of the beast, it seemed like she could rest easy, knowing Phi's dream could be just that, a dream. Then again, as all those who have ever lived and breathed would know, all myths and legends had at least a small grain of truth in them. After all, once upon a time daemons in general were considered myth as well. Yet, here she was with her daemon arm, which she kept latent in bandages.

"Worry not, Velvie dear." Magilou said, snidely. "We already established this creature is a total fake. After all, we all know you're the only Lord of Calamity around here." She giggled, trying to get under Velvet's skin.

Velvet groaned, less than amused by Magilou's remark.

"Alright everyone, Velvet started. "Keep this meeting under wraps. I don't want to bring it up with Phi, he's worried eno-"

"Don't bring up what?" Said a familiar, childlike voice. "Is something wrong?"

As if timing couldn't be worse. It was none other than Phi. The little malak boy seemed a touch groggy, with his hair messier than usual. The poor boy must've just woken up.

Velvet sighed. She felt she might as well tell him what they were talking about. Perhaps she should lead that that it was just an old story, maybe then he wouldn't worry.

"Phi, we were talking about-"

"About how Velvet lost a bet and now she has to coo like a dove again!" Magilou chimed, with her ever mischievous grin.

Velvet immediately winced, gritting her teeth upon hearing those words. Suddenly all eyes were on her, wondering what she'd do. Velvet did not want to go through that humiliation again, but with Phi watching, all confused, her hands were tied.

"Coo, coo." She said, begrudgingly.

"There, was that so bad?" Magilou said, satisfied.

Eleanor couldn't help but snicker a bit at Velvet's expense. So she was the "black, full chested dove" that they talked about a while back. At least it made sense now.

"Come on, Phi." Eleanor said. "Let's get you some breakfast. We're gonna dock soon, so you'll need your strength if you want to explore."

"Okay." Phi yawned.

With that, Eleanor and Phi went to the dining room. After they left, Velvet stared daggers at a certain little witch.

"You're welcome... coo, coo." Magilou said mockingly, just before darting off.

That did it...

"I'll throw you overboard!" Velvet shouted, giving chase to the fleeing witch.

"We should probably stop her before she really _does_ throw Magilou overboard." Rokurou suggested.

"Should we though?" Eizen inquired. "The way I see, Velvet might be doing us a favor."

Rokurou gave a hearty laugh, while Eizen merely chuckled, both finding humor in that. With that, they both went after Velvet before she made such a hasty decision.

Little did they all know, however, that this hellish tale of death and destruction was more true than they ever thought possible...


	3. The Festival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seasons Greetings, everyone! Hope you guys had a very Merry Christmas!
> 
> My sincere apologies for this took so long! For one thing, I had finals to be concerned with, so I barely had time for fun and games.
> 
> In addition, I actually had a hard time writing this chapter, as I didn't fully know what I wanted to do. Even now, I'm still not 100% satisfied with this chapter, but I just have press onward.
> 
> At at any rate, please enjoy!

Not much more than five hours had passed since the meeting, and noon was just around the corner. All seemed well... for the most part. Food rations were pretty low at the moment, so there wasn't much to go around. Still though, there was still enough provisions to hold over until they docked, which would hopefully be soon.

After a while, Laphicet took the time to appreciate the vast expanse of sea water that was the ocean. With a magnificent view like this, the young malak could only imagine how much unexplored territory there could be out there, just waiting to be discovered. That thought alone would always put a smile on his face.

What's more, this view was complimented by a beautiful sunrise. These calming colors were always enough to put Phi at ease.

That was, until the hideous daemon's face flashed before Phi's eyes, causing him to jump back. Panting heavily, he frantically looked around for any sign of fire and death.

Nothing...

Phi then took slow deep breaths, realizing it was a brief hallucination.

"Phi?" Eleanor's voice called out, snapping Phi out of his thoughts. "You doing alright?"

Phi started to feel a little self conscious; he wasn't sure he was ready to tell anyone else about the dream he had, and the last thing he wanted was to worry his vessel.

"I'm... fine." He simply said, turning back to the sea.

Eleanor picked up on poor Phi's negative vibe, knowing exactly what was bothering him. As tempted as she was to assure him that it was merely a dream, she thought better of it after remembering Velvet telling everyone not to worry Phi about it. Still, she felt as though she had to say something.

"You know, if there is something bothering you, you can always tell me about it." She assured with a gentle smile, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Even if it seems like something minor, I'm willing to listen."

"I... I know." Phi said

"Alright then, I better go check up on Magilou. Hopefully Velvet didn't beat her up too bad"

As Eleanor went to check up on the others, Phi couldn't help but chuckle a bit at that last statement, knowing full well that Magilou's frequent taunts on Velvet may one day land her in boiling hot water.

"Land ho!" Benwick called with enthusiasm. A port was finally in sight.

Phi got excited. Finally, new land to explore, and new things to discover! With all his excitement, he rushed to the front of the vessel.

"Guys, hurry! We'll be landing soon!" Phi said, passing by Velvet and the others.

The young lad's finally made to the front, watching with great enthusiasm to gaze upon the beautiful sight.

* * *

Roland, just at the tip of Westgand. Aifread's crew had been here at least once during their travels. It was a rather quint town as Eizen recalled; not much to do except hold festivals every year. Laphicet immediately wondered about what the this festival as about. What ever it was, it sounded like fun.

Upon reaching the port, Eizen thought it was best to divide and conquer, just to split the work load. Eleanor and Rokurou opted to scope the landscape to see if any exorcists happen to be stationed.

Naturally, Eizen stayed with the Van Eltia to oversee operations and decide the group's next heading. Magilou, to no one's surprise, made an excuse that she needed to "hold down the fort". In reality, she just wanted to sit back and relax, much to the pirate malak's chagrin.

That just left Velvet, who volunteered to gather groceries for the ship, which the crew really needed at this point. Eager to explore a bit, Phi opted to join her, which she saw no harm in. The list she received wasn't that long anyway, surely shopping for groceries would be a cinch.

However...

"Ugh!" Grumbled Velvet. "Doesn't this town have anything? All this time and we only have bread to show for it."

She wasn't wrong, it had already been almost an hour, and so far food seemed to be scarce. What little provisions they gathered were barely enough to feed a cockroach, much less a crew of rambunctious pirates.

"I'll say." Phi concurred, rather confused himself. "You'd think trade would be decent in a port like this. I wonder why supplies are-"

Before the young malak could finish, something caught his ear; something... fun. When he whirled his head, he saw the town square heavily decorated, along with multiple stands, and people festively dressed. Could this be the Festival that Eizen talked about?

"Excuse me, sir?" Phi asked a young man, who happened to pass by. "What's this all about?"

"Oh, you must be visitors." Then young man said with a smile. "It's Claudin Day, dedicated to the mighty Shepherd Claudin Asgard himself, after he ended the Era of Darkness."

Now that Velvet thought of it, she noticed that participants were dressed as what could only be described as exorcists, albeit in dated attire.

"Can we stay for a little bit, Velvet?" Phi asked.

"No, Phi." Velvet sternly said. "We have errands to run, we don't have time to watch some stupid festival."

"Please?" Of course, it was right then and there when Phi gave those big puppy dog eyes, those innocent, green eyes that would melt the hearts of most.

As Velvet leaned to Phi' level, he was so sure she'd say yes. And yet...

"No". She said once more, before continuing the opposite direction.

Phi couldn't help but pout a bit. Darn Magilou, she told him that trick _always_ works! Still, he wasn't ready to give up. He had one more trump card.

"If we attend this festival, I'll organize all the kitchen ingredients as soon as we get them... and I'll put a spider in Magilou's hat."

He had Velvet at the spider bit.

"Half an hour, that's all we'll spare."

All excited, Phi rushed over to the festival. Velvet couldn't help but sigh. Suffice it to say, she didn't exactly relish the idea of being in any area celebrating the mentor of her sworn enemy. Still, this was Phi's first time at a festival, and he was clearly excited about it. She supposed half an hour couldn't hurt that much.

* * *

Phi was having the time of his life! There was all sorts of knowledge gained from Asgard's time, simple games, and intriguing souvenirs to choose from, especially old tomes from the era of darkness. Too bad snacks were limited due to the apparent food shortage, but he couldn't argue with the sweet and creamy goodness of ice cream.

Velvet only wished she had as much fun. For her, this was rather grueling, having to put up with a bunch of ingrates who celebrate a day dedicated to exorcists. On the other hand, she couldn't help but crack a small smile after seeing Phi leap with joy. Perhaps this was just the thing he needed to take his mind off of that horrid dream.

"Attention, all good citizens of Roland!"

Phi suddenly heard. When he turned to look, he saw what appeared to be a stage, and a man dressed as an exorcist in center stage.

"Today, we are about to perform a reenactment of Claudin's stand, in the Era of Darkness!"

"Wow!" He said. He was about to dart right over and see, until Velvet quickly grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey! She shouted. "Don't go wandering off on your own like that, it's easy to get lost in crowds like this."

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to see the play. Magilou talks about them all the time, so I just wanted to see what one looked like."

Velvet looked back and forth between the play and Phi, who twiddled his thumbs rather nervously, waiting for an answer. Velvet wanted so badly to say no. After all, they still had a task to do, and they already stayed longer than intended. Yet, all she could so was sigh.

"Fifteen minutes, that's all you get." She finally said with a tired expression. Perhaps she is going soft.

Excited, Phi walked quickly toward the stage, with Velvet following suit.

"Run!" One female actor said. "The Lord of Calamity has arrived!"

"Cute..." Velvet deadpanned.

The poor fools; little did they know that the Lord of Calamity was standing right there among them. Of course, she wasn't about to tell them that.

"Not too worry, fair Patrons!" Out of left stage, a rather rotund man, clad in attire seemingly worthy to that of any holy shepherd appeared. "The mighty King Claudin Asgard is here!"

The crowd cheered as the actor bowed. Phi was honestly more amazed by the crowd cheering than he was by the man's over the top performance.

"Wow, Claudin must've a big deal around these parts."

"No surprise there." Velvet agreed. "After all, he was The Great Hero King of his ti-"

It suddenly occurred to Velvet that something was amiss. If this was a reenactment of what happened during The Era of Darkness, then how could there be a Lord of Calamity? Last she checked, daemons weren't visible to the naked eye until the night Celica died, to say nothing that she was the first Lord of Calamity, wasn't she?

"Stand back, Citizens!" The man playing Claudin shouted. "He comes!"

From stage right, one actor, clad in a rather cheesy looking costume, posed as the so called Lord of Calamity. The armor was not much more than a cheap imitation, along with jet black fabric with red eyes with eye holes.

"Rawr!" He shouted.

As the crowd waited with anticipation, the joyful spark that was in Phi's eyes suddenly turned to that of horror. Despite how cheap the costume looked, it was almost an exact match for the daemon that haunted his dream, right down to its V-shaped head.

"Phi?" Velvet asked, concerned.

"Fear me, mortals! I, the Lord of Calamity, will devour you all!"

As the actor turned to look at the audience, the daemons face once again reared its ugly head, flush into before Phi's eyes, growling seemingly reaching out to him. Out of shock, Phi jumped back so suddenly that he fell on his back.

"Phi!" Velvet called. She knelt to his level, trying to help him up. "Phi, are you al-"

"Let's get back to the ship, please!" He said, sobbing.

Velvet took a quick look at the actor, who just went on with the show, and everyone just went on watching.

"Sure." She sighed. "We've seen enough."

After she helped him up, she guided him out of the crowd. They then proceeded to head back toward the Van Eltia, with poor Phi staying close to Velvet, sobbing the whole way.


	4. Music Box

Eizen and his crew were just about done working their butts off the the day. The crew had worked up quite an appetite after a long day's work, and Eizen had just about deciphered their next heading. All that remained was food, which the crew anxiously waited for.

Sure enough, Velvet and Phi were just in the horizon.

"Oh boy!" Cried Benwick. "Finally, we'll be feasting like kings tonight!"

"Aye." Eizen said, wearing his trademark scowl.

Very truly, all those days out at sea, putting in hard physical labor, and dealing with daemons here and there, were about to pay off.

However, the two ended up rather surprised to find Phi picking up speed and running passed them, crying while doing so.

Then, Velvet walked up, wearing her typical cold and indifferent expression.

"Should I even ask?" Was the first thing Eizen asked.

"Bit of a long story. All you need to know for now is shopping was a bust. Apparently, there's a shortage."

"What?!" Benwick exclaimed. "How can that be? Last time they were well stocked!"

"Don't know what to tell you. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Velvet then walked passed Eizen and Benwick in order to track down Phi. If she knew him, she knew exactly where he'd be at this time.

* * *

Almost as soon as Phi ran in his room, he slammed the door shut and buried his face into his pillow, sobbing uncontrollably. When will these horrific visions cease? When will his nightmare stop haunting him? The very thought of that damned Daemon tore him apart.

Just outside, Velvet approached Phi's door. She was about to knock until she heard the faint sound of his crying. She sighed for a moment, not altogether sure what to do at first. Laphi did the same thing back in the day; always running to his "cave" when he was upset, wanting to be left alone. She suppose that was like she could do for the time being, just let him cry it out. Just hearing the wails from a sweet little boy, one usually full of hope and joy, was enough to make even her stone cold heart sink.

"Is Laphicet okay?" Asked a hoarse voice from a little girl. When Velvet turned to look, there stood Kamoana, with a look of worry.

Once more, Velvet sighed. She knew how sensitive the little therion girl was, and hearing something like this might scare her or make her sad. She certainly didn't want to deal with another crying child on the ship.

"Phi's just needs some alone time right now. He'll be fine."

"I hope so..."

Kamoana slowly walked on her way, clenching her right arm. Half way through the hall, she stopped.

"You know, my mommy use to sing to me when I was upset. Maybe Laphicet would like that."

As Kamoana went on her way, Velvet thought about it for a moment. There was indeed a song that she use to sing for her Laphi, just before bed, though she wasn't sure she had the heart to sing it at the moment.

But then, a thought occurred to her...

* * *

Phi had just about finished crying, his eyes still stinging from the waterfalls of tears that streamed down his face. Using one of his sleeves, he wiped away said tears off his face. Though his tears had stopped, he was still very much perturbed. All he could do was stare at the floor, seemingly staring in deep space.

Suddenly, the faint sound of music caught him off guard. It came from outside, no mistake. It was a most peculiar sound, almost like tiny bells, each one with a different notes which made a soft and soothing melody. Curious, he stepped outside to fins where this music was coming from.

As soon as he stepped outside, there was Velvet, sitting against the wall, holding what appeared to be a locket in her human hand. Was this the source of this music?

"Oh, hey, Phi."

"Wh... what's that you're holding?" Phi inquired.

"This is my music box. Did you want to hold it?"

Nodding his head yes, Phi held it in his hands, sitting next to Velvet. He couldn't help but be captivated by the melody; it was so soft and so enlightening. Phi felt completely at ease.

"It's an old family song, from my father's side." Velvet finally said. "It's been passed down, Crowe after Crowe, being sung just before bed. It's a song about seeing the world."

"It's... it's beautiful." Phi said.

"Yeah, It really is. It was given to me by Celica. I managed to get ahold of it shortly before we left Aball."

Phi could listen to this wonderful tune forever. However, the moment was cut short by Benwick's sudden appearance.

"First mate wants to see you guys in the Captain's quarters." The young man said.

"Did he say why?" Velvet asked.

"No ma'am, he won't say until you're there. Might be a big deal."

Wanting to see what the deal was, Velvet got up and headed toward the captain's quarters, with Phi following, subconsciously tucking the locket in his sleeve.

* * *

Upon reaching the captain's quarters, there stood Eizen, with Eleanor, Rokurou, and Magilou present as well.

"Is everything alright?" Phi inquired.

"Welp, good news and bad news!" Magilou said, placing her hands behind her head as if she didn't have a care in the world. "Good news, no exorcists whatsoever. At least, according to our two scouts here."

"And the bad news?" Velvet arched an eyebrow.

"Well, we hadn't really found much of value either." Eleanor said, with a skeptical look. "In fact, the land seems almost... barren. If that makes sense."

"Barren?"

"Yup, hardly any animals that we saw, most of the plants are dead or dying, and come to think of it, we hardly saw any daemons. It's weird." Rokurou added, scratching his chin.

"That would partly explain why markets are so low on supplies here." Phi speculated. "What happened to make the land so desolate?"

"We asked around. Apparently, a fire spread across the land not too long ago. The exact cause is remains unknown." Eleanor said.

"But there's a light at the end of this tunnel." Rokurou added. "According to one of the merchants, there's a place called Omar. It's a small town just east from here. Supposedly, it hadn't been hit by the flames. With any luck, it might have just the supplies we're looking for. If we leave know, we'll probably make it there before nightfall.

"Any objections? Eizen proposed.

Seeing that there was no other viable option, everyone voted yes. After all, may days travel to the next port, and with such meager provisions the crew wouldn't last long. If this town had supplies, then it was worth a shot.

"Then it's settled. Benwick, can I trust you to look after the ship?"

"You got it, First Mate!" He said with a cheery smile.

"Alright then. We best prep ourselves, we're in for a long walk."

And with that Velvet and her fellow misfits made their way out the door and into the woods. However, Phi stopped for a moment, feeling a little chill down his spine. It was almost as if something wasn't right.

"You okay, Phi?" Eleanor asked.

"Y- Yeah, I'm fine."

With not much else to say, Phi hurried to join the others. Eleanor couldn't help but worry for the poor boy. Though he seemed alright now, she could tell he was a little trepidatious.

However, she also noticed Magilou hadn't moved an inch, sitting there with a content grin.

"Aren't you coming?"

"Nah, you've all got this." Magilou said. "I'll just catch up on beauty sleep."

Eleanor simply sighed and moved on.

As soon as the door closed, and everyone was gone, Magilou's grin suddenly faded away, now deep in thought. She didn't want to admit it to the others, but Phi's tale had her very much intrigued.

"Something the matter, Miss Magilou?" Bienfu appeared, coming out of hiding from Magilou's hat.

"Just this morning, the boy had a dream of fire. Then, we hear of fire that spread across the land? Seems a little more than coincidence if you ask me."

"You're saying... THAT DAEMON COULD BE REAL?!" the little normin when went back into hiding, his teeth chattering with fright.

"Indeed we may yet have a new player in our little game of cat and mouse. Though something still bothers me; what's Phi's connection to all this? Sounds like something ole' Grim can answer."

Perhaps Magilou had a point. After all, Grimoire was older than anyone on that ship. Perhaps she might know a thing or two about such phenomenons.

One way or another, it was time to get to the bottom of this.


End file.
